BNP Paribas

A friend in FB:

"By now you should all know that BNP Paribas has a 5% holding in FAR... well not sure if this has been posted before or whether its well known or not but BNP were the group who actually funded Cairn Energy's North Sea field development $575m loan... fully underwritten 7 year facility"....

Cairn Energy in oil fields loans deal with BNP Paribas
Image copyrightCAIRN ENERGY
Image captionCairn expects to have spent $1bn on its development assets by the end of 2017
Oil and gas explorer Cairn Energy has announced a $575m (£343m) loan deal with French bank BNP Paribas to help the firm develop two North Sea fields.

The seven-year facility, which BNP will fully underwrite, will be used for the Catcher and Kraken North Sea fields.

The Catcher field development plan is awaiting UK government approval, with first oil targeted in mid-2017. Cairn has a 30% interest in the field.

Cairn said the Kraken development was "progressing on schedule".

First oil from that field, in which it has a 25% interest, is expected by the first half of 2017.

'Key milestone'

Edinburgh-based Cairn's chief executive, Simon Thomson, said: "Cairn has reached a key milestone for the Kraken and Catcher fields in the North Sea.

"BNP Paribas has agreed to fully underwrite a debt facility to part fund the development of the North Sea assets.

"The cash flow from these fields will underpin delivery of future exploration programmes with appropriate capital allocation within a balanced portfolio."

In an interim statement, the company said group net cash stood at $1.2bn (£716m) at 31 March.

By the end of 2017, Cairn expects to have spent about $1bn on its development assets, funded by existing cash resources and debt.